Only in Turkey you can be country's leader and an open RACIST and get away with it. They want to join Europe? I think not!

ERDOGAN: EVEN WORSE, I APOLOGIZE, I WAS CALLED AN ARMENIAN

Today's Zaman, Turkey
Aug 6 2014

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has sparked an outrage
in Turkey by saying he was, "even worse, called an Armenian" in what
many condemned as "racist" remarks that include insults for minorities.

"I was called a Georgian. I apologize for this, but they even said
worse: They called me an Armenian," Erdogan said. "But I'm a Turk."

Erdogan's apparently racist remarks sent chills across Turkey and lit
up social media accounts, many condemning him for insulting his own
Armenian citizens. This is not the first time Erdogan is "apologizing"
for mentioning the name of a minority group in Turkey. In the past,
he apologized for mentioning a "Greek" (Rum).

Erdogan's remarks came during a debate about his controversial
remarks last week, when he called on main opposition leader Kemal
KÄ±lÄ±cdaroglu to acknowledge that he is an "Alevi" in what many
experts argued was an attempt by the prime minister to bolster support
among his mostly Sunni base. He said "I'm Sunni" and that no one,
including KÄ±lÄ±cdaroglu, should hesitate in unveiling his or her
own identity.

In that non-language calling one an ermeni, or ones mother was ermeni is tantamount to calling one son of a whore, orusbi oghlu, just as in the Arabic Ibnil sharmuta.ebnil sharmuta Arabic and means Son of a whoreYou ebnil, abou, akhou Sharmuta!يا ابن الشرموطة(ya ibn alsharmoota) - you son of a whoreIt is like in the Armenian calling oneԲՈԶՈՐԴԻ- SOW, ՊՈՌՆԿՈՐԴԻ-SOW, ՔԱԾՈՐԴԻ- SOBOr better yet SSO- ՇՈՒՆ ՇԱՆՈՐԴԻ---er -DOG-an, that dog face.http://www.stuckism..../GoodBoy500.jpg

In that non-language calling one an ermeni, or ones mother was ermeni is tantamount to calling one son of a whore, orusbi oghlu, just as in the Arabic Ibnil sharmuta.ebnil sharmuta Arabic and means : Son of a whoreYou ebnil, abou, akhou Sharmuta!يا ابنلشرموط

(ya ibn alsharmoota) - you son of a whoreIt is like in the Armenian calling oneԲՈԶՈՐԴԻ- SOW, ՊՈՌՆԿՈՐԴԻ-SOW, ՔԱԾՈՐԴԻ- SOBOr better yet SSO- ՇՈՒՆ ՇԱՆՈՐԴԻ---er -DOG-an, that dog face.http://www.stuckism..../GoodBoy500.jpg

Lest we think calling a furk ermeni, or having an ermeni mother Is a compliment, think again. Just like some of us take pride in our contributions to the ottoman culture and history.

In that non-language calling one an ermeni, or ones mother was ermeni is the ultimate insult, is tantamount to calling one son of a whore, orusbi oghlu, just as in the Arabic Ibnil sharmuta. ebnil sharmuta Arabic and means : Son of a whoreYou ebnil, abou, akhou Sharmuta! يا ابن لشرموط (ya ibn alsharmoota)It is like in the Armenian calling oneԲՈԶՈՐԴԻ- SOW, ՊՈՌՆԿՈՐԴԻ-SOW, ՔԱԾՈՐԴԻ- SOB

"...they said even uglier things: They called me an Armenian!" Erdogan
says of his opposition.

ISTANBUL (Agence France Presse)--Turkish Prime Minister -- and
presidential hopeful -- Recep Tayyip Erdogan sparked an outcry
Wednesday after using what critics said was a racist slur against
Armenians in a television interview.

During a live interview on the private NTV channel late Tuesday,
Erdogan complained that the opposition was carrying out a smear
campaign against him by claiming that he was from another ethnic
origin.

"They called me a Georgian. Pardon me for saying this, but they said
even uglier things: They called me an Armenian!" Erdogan said.

"As far as I have learned from my father and grandfather, I am a Turk,"
he added.

His comment that it was ugly to be called an Armenian drew anger
on social media, further inflaming tensions days ahead of Sunday's
presidential election where Erdogan is hot favorite to become head
of state.

"Excuse me, but please go and become the president of another country,"
wrote prominent Turkish-Armenian columnist Hayko Bagdat in an angry
response to Erdogan.

Melda Onur, a lawmaker from the main opposition Republican People's
Party (CHP), asked: "Is there any ethnic group who could escape
Erdogan's hate speech?"

Critics accused Erdogan of playing the sectarian and the ethnic card
in the run-up to the presidential elections.

"Is it ugly to be an Armenian or is it a shame? Please explain now!"

demanded Nevsin Mengu, an anchorwoman at the private CNN-Turk
television.

Turkey's Armenian minority -- the remnants of a much greater community
that lived during the Ottoman Empire -- numbers around 70,000 people,
most of them living in Istanbul.

They often complain of being considered second-class citizens in a
country where "Armenian" is often considered a curse.

PanARMENIAN.Net - An opposition lawmaker has filed a legal complaint
against Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan accusing him of
inciting racial hatred for saying people had insulted him in the past
by claiming he was of Georgian or Armenian descent, the Associated
Press reports.

In an interview on NTV television late Tuesday, Aug 5, ahead of
Sunday's presidential elections in which he is a candidate, the prime
minister said: "They have said so many things about me. Some said I
was Georgian. One said -- begging your pardon -- even uglier things,
that I was Armenian."

Erdogan has also faced accusations that he is propagating sectarian
divisions and engaging in rhetoric bordering on anti-Semitism by
comparing Israel to Hitler.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday faced
accusations of racism days before he stands in presidential elections
after saying in a television interview that it was ugly to be called
an Armenian.

During a live interview on the private NTV channel late Tuesday,
Erdogan complained that the opposition was carrying out a smear
campaign against him by claiming that he was from another ethnic
origin.

"They called me a Georgian. Pardon me for saying this, but they said
even uglier things: They called me an Armenian!" Erdogan said.

"As far as I have learned from my father and grandfather, I am a Turk,"
he added.

His comment that it was ugly to be called an Armenian drew anger
on social media, further inflaming tensions days ahead of Sunday's
presidential election where Erdogan is hot favorite to become head
of state.

"Excuse me, but please go and become the president of another country,"
wrote prominent Turkish-Armenian columnist Hayko Bagdat in an angry
response to Erdogan.

Melda Onur, lawmaker from the Republican People's Party (CHP), asked:
"Is there any ethnic group who could escape Erdogan's hate speech?"

Even a senior lawmaker from the ultra right-wing Nationalist Movement
Party (MHP) -- usually not a natural friend of Turkey's Armenians --
came to their defense.

"We have news for Erdogan from the 21th century: Being an Armenian
is not a crime, a fault, an ugly, an embarrassing or a sinful thing....

But his words amount to hate crime according to our laws," Tugrul
Turkes said in a written statement.

Critics accused Erdogan of playing the sectarian and the ethnic card
in the run-up to the presidential elections.

"Is it ugly to be an Armenian or is it a shame? Please explain now!"

demanded Nevsin Mengu, an anchorwoman at the private CNN-Turk
television.

Turkey's Armenian minority -- the remnants of a much greater community
that lived during the Ottoman Empire -- numbers around 70,000 people,
most of them living in Istanbul.

They often complain of being considered second-class citizens in a
country where "Armenian" is often considered a curse.

Armenians say up to 1.5 million of their forebears were killed
in a 1915-1916 genocide by Turkey's former Ottoman Empire. Turkey
says 500,000 died of fighting and starvation during World War I and
categorically rejects the term genocide.

Erdogan in April expressed his condolences over the World War I
massacres of Armenians, which he called "our shared pain", but his
overture was brushed aside by Yerevan.

Erdogan's supporters are largely ethnic Turkish Sunni Muslims, who
are the overwhelming majority community in Turkey.

During an election rally last weekend, the 61-year-old premier urged
the CHP leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu to make clear he belongs to the
country's minority Alevi community, an offshoot of Shia Islam.

"Kilicdaroglu, you can be an Alevi. I respect you. Don't be afraid
to say it. I am Sunni and can say it without fear. There is no need
to deceive people," he said.

Aytun Ciray, lawmaker and the deputy head of the CHP, called Erdogan
a "very dangerous leader" with a "sick state of mind" and suggested
that he showed symptoms of "Mad Leader Disease".

Erdogan also said his presidential election rival Selahattin Demirtas
-- who represents a Kurdish party -- was actually a Zaza, an ethnic
group living in southeast Turkey who often consider themselves
as Kurds.

The premier meanwhile has repeatedly called his other election rival
Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu -- the Egypt-born former head of the Organization
of Islamic Cooperation -- "the Egyptian".

"Yes, Kilicdaroglu is an Alevi, Demirtas is a Zaza, Ihsanoglu is
Eyptian and you are a thief!", the left-leaning BirGun newspaper
headlined on Sunday, referring to the corruption allegations against
Erdogan and his inner circle.

In a television interview Tuesday, Turkish Prime Minister and
presidential hopeful Recep Tayyip Erdogan complained that people had
questioned his family background.

"I was called a Georgian. I apologize for this, but they even said
[something] worse: They called me an Armenian," Erdogan said during
an interview with NTV, according to a translation from Today's Zaman
newspaper. "But I'm a Turk."

The comment immediately sparked outrage, with CNN-Turk asking on
Twitter whether it was really so "ugly" to be an Armenian and others
accusing Erdogan of racism:

Erdogan is known to be a skilled orator, and this may have been just a
slip of the tongue, but the history between Armenians and Turks make
his comments especially ill-advised. In 1915, during the dying days
of the Ottoman Empire, soldiers slaughtered hundreds of thousands
of ethnic Armenians living in what is now Turkey. Armenians and
historians alike refer to it as a genocide, though Turkey and, notably,
the United States have officially refused to use that terminology.

The Turkish prime minister is just days away from his bid to become
president and is facing considerable backlash after more than a decade
of authoritarian rule. And while his Justice and Development Party
(known by its Turkish initials AKP) is known for its combination
of capitalism, nationalism and Islamist governance, it has made
significant inroads among Turkey's minority communities.

Erdogan enjoys good support in the Kurdish-dominated southeast of the
country, for example, and the AKP has pushed policies that supported
Kurdish linguistic and cultural rights. If Erdogan wants to become
president, this Kurdish support may well be vital. There are also signs
that Erdogan had hoped to reach out to Armenians before his election,
with reports that Turkey might open the Alican border crossing between
the countries. Erdogan even took a tentative step toward acknowledging
Turkey's role in the mass killings of Armenians, offering condolences
for the "inhumane" acts (his comments, while unprecedented, left
many Armenian observers cold: One complained that Erdogan had used
"euphemisms and the age-old 'everyone suffered' denialist refrain").

Despite this, Erdogan has been criticized for repeatedly talking
about ethnic and religious differences in what appears to be a bid to
shore up his support among his Sunni Islam base. Earlier this week,
he had called on his rivals to be clear about their backgrounds. "I
am a Sunni, Kemal [Kýlýcdaroglu of the Republican People's Party, or
CHP] is an Alevi [a branch of Shiite Islam], Selahattin [Demirtas,
presidential candidate of the Peoples' Democratic Party] is Zaza
[a type of Kurdish people]," he said, according to Hurriyet Daily
News, later adding. "I respect Alevis. Just as I make my sect public,
so should he."

70,000 or so Armenians still call Turkey home, and many in that
community felt marginalized or even threatened before the comments.

Erdogan often uses "extremely aggressive and bellicose language when
referring to the Armenians or Armenian issue," Richard Giragosian, an
American-born Armenian analyst, told Today's Zaman in July. Erdogan
may have made an unfortunate verbal slip on Tuesday, but to critics
it confirms their worst fears.

Today's Zaman - Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoðan, who has
been criticized recently for emphasizing the religious and ethnic
backgrounds of his political rivals, has made potentially offensive
remarks concerning people of Georgian and Armenian descent.

In televised remarks on Tuesday, Erdoðan repeated previous statements
he had made about the backgrounds of Republican People's Party (CHP)
leader Kemal Kýlýcdaroðlu and Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) leader
and presidential candidate Selahattin Demirtaþ. Erdoðan had earlier
said, "Kýlýcdaroðlu, you are an Alevi and I am Sunni. You should
state this openly. Demirtaþ, you are Zaza. Don't be worried about
speaking out about this." In response to a question posed during a
joint broadcast of Star TV and NTV regarding the negative reaction
these words have drawn, Erdoðan said: "Let all Turks in Turkey say
they are Turks and all Kurds say they are Kurds. What is wrong with
that? You wouldn't believe the things they have said about me. They
have said I am Georgian. ...they have said even uglier things --
they have called me Armenian, but I am Turkish."

Reactions to Erdoðan's words describing being Armenian as "uglier"
than being Georgian has found rapid and angry backlash.

CHP deputy Hurþit Guneþ filed a criminal complaint against Erdoðan
on Wednesday. Guneþ announced his plan to take legal action on
his Twitter account, saying Erdoðan had violated Article 10 of the
Constitution and Articles 122 and 216 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK)
against discrimination.

In remarks to show his reaction, Guneþ said: "Look at this disgrace.

Erdoðan said being Armenian is ugly on NTV. What a shame! Calling a
person Armenian, even if it is untrue, is not "ugly". Seeing this as
such is a low form of racism! Erdoðan doesn't hear what he says. If
he becomes president, Turkey will not have only chosen a tyrant, but
at the same time a racist." He also appealed to Turkey's citizens of
Armenian descent not to be offended. "His mind isn't in the right
place," he said, adding: "The world should know this is a racist
person. He has defined the claim that he is Armenian as 'ugly'
slander. His name is Tayyip Erdoðan."

He also said Erdoðan's mentality was what caused the death of
journalist Hrant Dink, who was assassinated by an ultra-nationalist
teenager in 2007.

Shortly after announcing his intention on Twitter to file a criminal
complaint, Hurþit Guneþ went to the Ankara Courthouse and did so.

Steven Cook, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations with
a reputation for expertise on Turkey and Egypt, wrote an article for
Politico Aug. 5 headlined, "What a Turkey! Has the Turkish leader
lost his head?" The article discussed the alleged anti-Semitism of
the Turkish prime minister, currently running for the presidency.

Cook's article begins, "If Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
were an American politician, he would be an excellent candidate for
one of Chris Cillizza's 'Worst Week in Washington' features. First,
on Friday, July 19, a day after the State Department spokesperson
criticized him for his frequent invocation of the Nazis to describe
Israel's behavior, Erdogan asked, 'What do Americans know about
Hitler?' Given that almost 200,000 young Americans died fighting in
Europe during WWII, quite a lot, actually."

In the article, Cook refers to Richard Cohen's Washington Post column
about "Erdogan's 'Hitler fetish,'" in which Cohen questioned whether
Erdogan had lost his mind.

Cook gave his personal opinion of Erdogan, writing, "Having an
over-inflated sense of self comes with being a world leader, and he's
has been in the bubble for almost 12 years. And for all of Erdogan's
seeming public decomposition, there is actually a perfectly rational
and sane politician astutely advancing his agenda, which at the moment
is focused on becoming Turkey's next president. ... When it comes to
anti-Semitism, Erdogan is guilty as charged, but sadly so are large
numbers of Turks. It is true that Jews found refuge in Turkey during
the Inquisition and have lived and prospered there ever since, but
that does not mean that anti-Semitism is alien to Turkish culture."

Cook naturally couldn't have imagined that what Erdogan would go on
to say about Armenians would dwarf his remarks about Israel. On the
night of Aug. 5 in a joint transmission by NTV and Star TV, he was
reminded that in an election rally, main opposition leader Kemal
Kilicdaroglu had said that he is an Alevi, Kurdish presidential
candidate Selahattin Demirtas had announced that he is a Zaza and
that Erdogan himself had cited his Sunnism. Erdogan blurted a reaction
that instantly generated a passionate public debate in Turkey.

He said, "Let all Turks in Turkey say they are Turks and all Kurds
say they are Kurds. What is wrong with that? You wouldn't believe the
things they have said about me. They have said I am Georgian. Excuse
me, but they have said even uglier things. They have called me
Armenian, but I am Turkish."

Turkish traditional and social media went wild next day with reports
of how on Aug. 11, 2003, in an official visit to neighboring Georgia,
Erdogan had said, "I am also a Georgian. Our family is a Georgian
family that emigrated from Batumi to Rize." Thus the source of the
allegation that he was Georgian was Erdogan himself. Clearly, he
did not find any ethnic identity other than Turkish healthy for his
electoral fortunes a few days before the vote.

But it was not his denial of Georgian origin that triggered the
passionate public debate. It was the way he phrased the Armenian
identity. His remark, "Excuse me, but they have said even uglier
things. They have called me Armenian," was taken as an example of
hate speech and an unjustifiable insult to the Armenian identity,
and the public erupted in exceptionally harsh reactions.

On Aug. 6, a group of well-known Turkish-Armenian intellectuals and
business people cynically calling themselves "Excuse us, Armenians"
issued an articulate statement that read, "For years we were forced to
shout out that we are Turkish. But we never found it ugly. We found
it wrong. We were upset being persistently told who we are. ... Did
we have any enemies of Turks, any racists among us? Of course we did,
as much as any other nation. But we didn't crown these racists."

The statement ends with the following lines that would break the heart
of any conscientious person: "As a people whose ancestry has been
pulverized, we continue to live quietly as a diaspora on our own land.

Stop baiting us, enjoy your life. Continue to live your life until
the day we Armenians, Greeks, Syriacs, Turks, Kurds, Circassians,
Georgians, Alevis, Christians, Jews and Muslims, with our brethren
who vote for you or not, prove that we can do better than you."

Among the 17 signatories were the names of late journalist Hrant
Dink's son Arat Dink, Agos editor-in-chief Rober Koptas and his close
associate Karin Karakasli, as well as well-known Armenian names such
as Anna Turay, Aris Nalci, Garo Paylan, Hayko Bagdat and Yetvart
Danzikyan, publishers and business people such as Ardasez Margosyan
and Nazar Buyum particularly stood out.

The unforgettable symbol of Armenian identity in Turkey, Hrant Dink,
was assassinated in 2007, and his funeral was at the time the greatest
mass demonstration ever in Istanbul. His weekly Agos newspaper carried
a photo of Erdogan on its Aug. 7 front page, accompanied by headline,
"May Allah Forgive You." The piece read, "So now this happened, too.

Presidential candidate Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan did not
find it enough to declare he is a Turk but also announced he is not
an Armenian, with a grimace of disgust.

"Perhaps all of us living in this country are very lucky. You never
get bored. There is always an opportunity to amuse ourselves with a
further beguiling diversion and our share of hatred narratives. ... Of
course, no ethnic identity is a cause of pride or shame by itself.

Such generalizations can only be the product of a racist mindset. We
know very well that in addition to the estimated 50,000 Armenians in
Turkey, there are thousands of people of Armenian ancestry living in
this land. Our small number and the need for many to remain secret
Armenians are the bitter heritage of the 1915 Armenian Genocide. What
we want to say it that there are so many other issues to ask for
Armenians' forgiveness. But there is no one apologizing or asking for
our forgiveness. To the contrary, the burden of discrimination gets
heavier by the day. When the prime minister finds being an Armenian
ugly -- excuse us -- some people are ready to don their white berets
[as ultranationalists] and threaten Agos with impunity. The holy Quran
says people were divided into nations and tribes so that they can get
to know each other. We wonder if the prime minister is aware of the
values he is trampling on with his remarks. What else is there to say,
except, may God forgive his transgressions."

Cook concluded his article, "Erdogan will leave nothing to chance.

"This is not to excuse Erdogan's recent Jew-baiting or an entire
previous year of intimidating his opponents, cowing the press,
restricting access to the Internet, purging the bureaucracy and
banning (unsuccessfully) social media. These are the tactics of a
tin-pot dictator, not a major NATO ally, but Erdogan does not care.

Behind the bluster and thuggish politics is an effort to secure the
domestic political arena. To the extent that this approach plays
well among voters in Kayseri, Trabzon and Erzurum, Erdogan will reap
the benefits.

"From afar, Erdogan certainly seems crazy, but he is more likely
crazy like a fox."

One can substitute "recent Armenian-insulting" for "recent Jew-baiting"
and Cook's judgment remains applicable.

Erdogan, in terms of domestic politics, as a political mastermind, can
be elected president but his alleged anti-Semitism and his insulting
remarks on the Armenian identity will haunt him all him all the
way, particularly in 2015, the 100th anniversary of what Armenian
communities all over the world remember and depict as a genocide.

Turkey, thanks to the "great master" and "strong leader's" unscrupulous
attitude and hate speech toward religious and ethnic minorities,
appears destined to suffer constant headaches in the international
arena.

It is just a joke. Has it ever happened? I have no idea. Most
probably it was the product of a cheeky story teller. Once upon a time
there was a sultan. He had a very mighty army and it was the era of
conquest. Booty from war filled the treasury up to the top limit. With
plenty of cash, no social problems at home and no external threat, the
mighty sultan started to become bored. What should he do to entertain
himself? Many people who failed to entertain the sultan perished;
heads rolled down the imperial palace. One day, the frustrated sultan
told his clown "Tell me such a joke that the apology of which will
be worse than the joke!"

The chief clown was a small guy with nice hair, as if he had an
implant. He was so successful at his job that according to the talk
of the town, he was hiding his immense treasure in shoeboxes.

The task was a very serious one. His head was at risk. The clown
thought about the issue extensively and eventually went back to the
sultan's court with a bright idea. "My sultan," he said, "shall we
walk a little bit in the rose garden?"

Viziers were in charge of state affairs. The war was over and he
could not yet concoct a reason to start a new war. The treasury was
full anyhow. He was bored. "Let's go for a walk," he said and slowly
climbed down the stairs to the palace's luxurious rose garden. After
touring the garden for a while, the sultan and the clown were returning
and all of a sudden, the clown pinched the sultan's back.

"How dare you?" the sultan roared. "Is your head uneasy on your
shoulders?" With a large smile on his face the clown replied back
"Sorry my sultan, I mistook you for the mother queen!" The sultan
was perplexed. He would yell at the clown, but he did exactly what
he ordered him to do: A joke the apology of which would be worse than
the joke... The clown received a loaded bahsish...

One of the presidential candidates was talking on television. The
interviewer acting the role of a journalist, was asking the questions
he was given by the "Public Diplomacy Department," created as a prelude
to moving a while later to a grotesque white palace, the "AK Saray"
for the construction of which a forest was devastated.

The candidate was complaining that his opponents were constantly
accusing him of being arrogant. "They complain that I was arrogant
because I called one an Alevi and the other a Yazidi ... So
what? They have been saying many things about me ... They claimed I
was Georgian ...

Some said something even far worse ... Sorry to say, but some even came
forth with an ugly claim that I was an Armenian ... From my grandfather
down, we have been Turks ... That's what I was raised with..."

Can it be "worse" for anyone to be a Greek, Armenian, Kurd or Turk?

What relevance is there for nationality or ethnicity? For a civilized
mentality aware of the fact that in this open air brothel, where
thousands of ethnicities, cultures, belief groups came, settled and
dissolved in the big melting pot, Anatolia, or left their residue
and vanished for good or exterminated after being subjected to some
unfortunate, shameful undertakings of the mentality that considered
being called an Armenian as something horrible.

Turkey's Armenian community, the few remaining from one of the several
ancestral peoples of this land, was hurt with the sultan's statement
in the making. I feel as if I am a proud Armenian today.

He is a doctor and a sculptor. On his way to holidays, he makes
a stopover in Afyon and comes across a huge crowd of people. Their
conditions look poor, torn clothes, eyes swollen from crying... "What
is wrong?" he asks. They are local farmers conducting a fallen
soldier's funeral.

The man looks at his three-year-old daughter, jumping up and down
with joy and then takes a look at the villagers... On one hand,
there is his daughter who he wouldn't even exchange a single strand
of her hair for anything, and on the other, there is a father who let
go of his son in order for him to fight for his country... He feels
ashamed. He thinks to himself, "I need to do something, make these
kids immortal." He prepares a "Å~^ehit AgacÄ±" (Martyr Tree) project.

He plans on writing the names of the victims of terror on tags and
hang those tags on a tree, thus enabling the souls of these heroes
to teeter on the trees forever.

He only had the chance to put his plan into action in 2003. He decides
to join the contest opened by the State Art and Sculptor Museum. He
comes to Istanbul. He then goes to the neighborhood of Tahtakale to
get the tags, asking where to find them and everybody points in the
direction of an Armenian craftsman.

He finds this little store in the backstreets of the Egyptian Bazaar
(MÄ±sÄ±r carÅ~_Ä±sÄ±), goes in and starts telling him about his
plan. The Armenian craftsman listens and he points out one detail the
man had not thought about, "The tags should never rust; our children
should shine until eternity."

The tags shouldn't rust indeed; however, the shiny tags the
craftsman mentioned are the most expensive kind; 1 Turkish Lira,
25 kuruÅ~_... "This is not trade, don't bother about the money,
this is our duty for our country," says the Armenian craftsman.

He gives the tags for 25 kuruÅ~_, one fifth of the actual price,
thus having a loss, rather than making a profit. 3,000 tags... He
promises to send them by next week and does as he promises.

However, the sculptor ends up not being able to join the contest due
to some errands. He takes the tags to the basement in his house and
they remain there until the sculptor achieves his goal in 2009.

At that time, Ankara's KÄ±zÄ±lcahamam municipality was constructing
a park under the name "Martyr Fatih Duru." He applies and the mayor
accepts his application immediately. A cedar tree is going to be used.

However, there is a problem. Since the 1990s, the number of deaths
has reached over 6,000 and the number of tags is 3,000.

He needs to get more tags in time for the park's opening ceremony and
because of this he prefers to arrange things from Ankara; however,
the bad news is that he doesn't have the Armenian craftsman's contact
details. He goes on the Internet and in order to complete the number
of tags, he contacts merchandizers who sell military materials. He
requests tags that don't rust and gets guaranteed by the merchandizers
that the tags they are selling are the king of all tags. There is
limited time... He buys the new tags for 1 Lira, which he had gotten
for 25 kuruÅ~_ from the Armenian craftsman at the time.

He writes down the names of the fallen soldiers, one by one, on the
tags and hangs them on the cedar's leaves... They do the opening
ceremony on Republic Day. Our media rushes to the event, Turkey
watches with outpouring emotions and then it is forgotten.

Then comes winter time. When the rain hits the cedar's leaves, 3,000
of the tags shine, while the rest rust!

The sculptor remembers the Armenian craftsman's words, "This is our
duty for our country, our children should shine until eternity."

Crying, the sculptor changes the tags, the tags that were guaranteed
to not rust by a Turkish merchandizer.

You need to learn to be a human first.

It is not origins that matters, it is knowing who robbed the whole
nation that matters!

We have a very good reason for getting upset when mistaken for a Turk! What is their reason? For stealing our lands? For raping us? For killing million and a half and counting? I guess they won't rest until we're fully wiped out of this world!

IT WOULD BE INSULTING FOR ARMENIANS AS WELL, IF IT TURNED OUT THAT ERDOgAN IS ARMENIAN: ARMENIA'S PRESIDENT

11:09, 11 August, 2014

YEREVAN, AUGUST 11, ARMENPRESS. The President of the Republic of
Armenia Serzh Sargsyan does not see anything surprising in Turkey's
approaches, as Turkey is the country which unequivocally supports
Azerbaijan. In an interview with "Armnews" TV company, the President
of the Republic of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan stated this in response
to the question, that today a person is being elected in Turkey,
who, in his public speech, described as an insult the version about
his Armenian origin. The President of the Republic of Armenia Serzh
Sargsyan answered:

"But why does Turkey's attitude surprise you. Was there any case
that Turkey expressed impartial position? Turkey is the country,
which unequivocally supports Azerbaijan. In any issue. And I will
really be surprised if Mr Erdogan would express condolences to the
Armenian side as well."

As for Erdogan's approach, Serzh Sargsyan also thinks that there is
nothing surprising about it. "And I really think that it will be
insulting for Armenians as well, if it turned out that Erdogan is
an Armenian.

So in this case we also must not be surprised. It is another case
that people occupying such positions must be restrained. And they
are not restrained. Turkey's position is very clear and obvious for
us. We made sure in it for several times, including the negotiations
on the protocols. That is why we were very attentive that no point or
provision may limit us in Karabakh negotiations in those protocols. So
everything is simple and clear here," the President noted.

Erdoğan late Sunday stressed the importance of the "citizens of Turkey." "There are 'citizens of Turkey' before Muslims, Christians, Jews, Assyrians, Yazidis [living in Turkey]. There are 'citizens of Turkey' before Alevis and Sunnis. There are 'citizens of Turkey' before Turkish, Kurdish, Arab, Laz, Georgian, Bosnian, Circassian, Romani, Pomak, Greek and Armenian,"

One such Turkish plan is Davutoglus cynical statement that the Armenian Diaspora is also Turkeys Diaspora! There have been media reports that the Turkish government is preparing to grant citizenship to the descendants of former Ottoman subjects, including Armenians. Surprisingly, some naïve Armenians are fooled into thinking that this is a positive step! Just imagine settling in one of the towns of Turkish-occupied Western Armenia or Cilicia as a citizen of Turkey, and having your sons drafted into the Turkish military to defend the Turkish nation and take part in the invasion of Kessab or Aleppo or even Armenia! How about being jailed, under article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code, because you made the mistake of speaking about the Armenian Genocide to one of your Turkish neighbors!